Just Another Day In Paradise
by AzureLazuliBlue
Summary: Po is not a killer, that is just not the way it could be. Tai Lung is still alive, and in the Valley of Peace! But he does not seek revenge. He's still there, somewhere, but will anyone recognise him? Eventual Tai/Tigress
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: **I don't own anything. Kung Fu Panda (c) to DreamWorks and whoever-else-made-it

**Author's Note:** Inspired by the song of the same name by Phil Collins (not the actual lyrics though, more the tune)

**Summary: **Po is not a killer, that is just not the way it could be. Tai Lung is still alive, and in the Valley of Peace! But he does not seek revenge. Does he suffer amnesia? No. Is he seeking redemption? No, it is simply not possible, no would even consider forgiving him no matter how much he tried. Is he sorry? Yes he is, but what can he do about it? Life must carry on and Tai Lung does not wish to leave, he's still there, somewhere, but will anyone recognise him?

**Chapter 1  
**

**And Afterwards...  
**

He knew there was a look of fear in his eyes, he knew he had never felt more humiliated but this thought was mercifully wiped out of existence by his panic. When facing death most will not think twice, too scared to try anything but save themselves, but Tai Lung knew he was trapped and was unable to do this, he was prevented from taking to the two most relied upon actions of old that guaranteed safety, fight or flight, neither option was available for him.

He felt nauseous and confused, he was tired and weak. He had felt unwell ever since he had left the prison but it was only now that it was taking effect. He sputtered fearful gibberish at the panda, whom he should have been able to crush like an insect, his own words to him were meaningless, just an attempt to comfort himself and blot out the rest of reality, a technique that was failing miserably. The world was still very much real. Just a little ray of hope perhaps…?

"Nope, I figured it out."

The little finger went down, but there was no immediate reaction in Tai Lung's adrenaline slowed world, and for a moment he thought that maybe just maybe the Panda had been bluffing. But then his vision blurred and he realized without shock that his body was numb. Tai Lung's eyes rolled back and he collapsed, but it was not from the Wuxi Finger Hold but the fatigue and weakness finally taking their toll. Tai Lung had been unable to move for twenty years and since his escape he hadn't slept once, hadn't stopped once, and as much as he would have disliked to believe it, Tai Lung was just as mortal as everyone else.

* * *

_Twenty one years before..._

Shifu had gone out again, nothing special about that, the Kung Fu Master would often leave the Jade Palace during the daylight hours, normally to meditate. And he was back now, nothing special about that either, except he was not alone.

Fifteen year old Tai Lung had just finished his day's training and was eager to see his father, for a few minutes he had waited in the Training Hall but to his annoyance his father hadn't turned up to greet him like he usually did. Grumbling under his breath, Tai Lung left the hall in search of his father.

Tai Lung knew Shifu wasn't alone, he had heard voices, it was quite possible Master Oogway was present. Maybe this was why Shifu had not yet appeared, when Master Oogway was around it normally meant something important. Following the sound of his father's voice Tai Lung found the two in the Hall of Warriors. Tai Lung strolled leisurely through the doorway, trying his best not to appear tired from the day's training. If it was Master Oogway then he wanted to look his strongest, Tai Lung would soon be turning sixteen, he would be officially an adult, it was then that Oogway would announce that he was the Dragon Warrior; but Tai Lung still felt that he had to show that he was truly worthy of his future title.

But it wasn't Master Oogway.

Shifu was standing beside a figure slightly smaller than himself. Tai Lung immediately felt the urge to slouch, he was tired after all the training and longed to go to sleep, but out of respect for his father he stood tall. Shifu turned around, already aware of his son's presence. He smiled warmly and gestured at the little figure standing beside him, but still facing the other direction unaware of his presence. Shifu gently tapped its shoulder and immediately the little figure leapt around to face Tai Lung, staring up with wide eyes.

"Tai Lung, this is Tigress, you remember we were talking about her?"

Tai Lung ruffled his brow and nodded curtly, he did. For the past few months Shifu had been going off to the Bao Gu Orphanage to help out, he had spoken of a child who had been causing quite a stir. Apparently all the other children there had been fearful of her and as a result the child had grown unhappy and joyless; Shifu had stated that he was helping this change, but never once had it occurred to Tai Lung that Shifu might actually adopt the little one himself.

Tai Lung looked down at the child. It was a tiger as her unusual name predicted, probably a nickname, she couldn't have been over six years old. She looked a little unsure of herself and was rocking on her heels, Shifu put a hand on her shoulder and immediately the rocking ceased. Tai Lung took a step forward then stopped, gave a bow to the both of them. The little child crossed her arms and had blown up her cheeks, making her appear like a hamster.

"Tigress, this is my son, Tai Lung. He'll look after you if I am absent." said Shifu, gesturing towards him, apparently oblivious to the look of outrage that had just crossed the snow leopard's face.

The "hamster" child deflated her cheeks and gave a shy wave, she seemed nervous. It was now Tai Lung's turn to cross his arms, he would never have admitted it but he felt slightly jealous; why did Shifu have to adopt another child?

The master in question swept one arm in a semi-arc indicating for them to follow and began to march along, quickly heading towards the Training Hall. Immediately the little tiger ran after him, Tai Lung followed after the two of them at a more leisured pace, he had no difficulty keeping up with his father but the cub practically had to run.

Shifu stopped abruptly, causing the little tiger to run straight into him and fall over. Shifu said nothing as the cub muttered a stream of apologies and stood up quickly, she glanced back at Tai Lung again, the snow leopard simply glowered back. It was ridiculous really, she was nothing but a tiny cub, but Tai Lung already resented her; he did not want her there anymore than he would have wanted to hold a nest of angry hornets.

"This is the Training Hall. Tai Lung spends much of his time here, so if you're looking for him this is most likely where he'll be." Shifu stopped and looked over expectantly at his son, Tai Lung easily caught on.

"Yes, I'm here most of the day in fact." he said. "You won't be of course, this hall is only for serious masters of the scrolls."

"What's that?" asked the little tiger, pointing at the stuffed punching bag, it was an old thing and had been pushed to one side since none of the current students learning at the temple were that inexperienced or young.

"That's the door prop." replied Tai Lung without hesitation. The tiger cub glanced at him suspiciously; Shifu shook his head and smiled.

"Yes that is the door prop, but it is also the doll upon which young kung fu beginners start. Like you for instance, if you wish to become an artist in Kung Fu."

"I do. I do!" immediately chirped the young one.

Tai Lung almost rolled his eyes at the over eagerness of the cub, wondering whether she would still think the same thing after she had actually spent a day training. He watched as the tiger cub went at the stuffed dummy like a mad thing, she obviously had much strength for a young one but lacked the ability to hold it properly. Her stance was awful as were her moves, yet Shifu nodded in approval at her; even when the little tiger was sent flying by the rebounding punch bag. Tai Lung noticed the haunting shape of Master Oogway nearby. The Master had appeared silently, and like Tai Lung he was also observing the scene before him but rather than watching the tiger cub he was watching the snow leopard. Tai Lung politely acknowledged him.

"Master Oogway, what brings you here?"

"I just wished to see the new student, I've been expecting her to arrive."

Tai Lung didn't reply.

"I see her presence unsettles you. Why is that?"

"Master Shifu did not inform me she was coming to live here. Master Oogway, with all due respect, how long have you known she was to be arriving here?"

"Quite some time now, but I believe Shifu only found out today."

Tai Lung looked back at his father again, and then to the cub that was still trying to show off, Master Oogway was gone by the time Tai Lung looked back round again. Frowning, Tai Lung began to wander back the way he had came, only this time he went out into the courtyard. Crossing the courtyard he began to wander over to the student barracks, the lonely dark building beckoning to him, it was where he went to relax and rest. The student barracks were empty apart from himself, he had the building to himself, it had been like this for as long as he could remember; there were only three other students currently studying here at and none of them slept here.

It was said that Oogway had taught many students in his life, but Oogway had lived a long time, Shifu had not finished teaching any student yet. The Valley of Peace wasn't the biggest of towns and the population was exactly that, peaceful, but this was mostly because they were so lazy and stupid that they wouldn't even have the faintest idea to be even able to throw a fist, while this was good in one way it was also bad in another. There were few who would even consider Kung Fu and even fewer who would possibly think of it seriously, the tiny handful that were mostly left the valley to live in bigger towns where there were more likely to be threats for which their strength used.

Apart from the occasional thief or bandit the Valley of Peace had not once been under any kind of threat for around a 1000 years.

The three other students currently studying at the Jade Palace were all older than Tai Lung, and despite the obvious, they all thought they were superior in skill. Tai Lung had liked them at first, even considered himself close friends with one of them, but after a few weeks they had begun to talk their way around as if they were in charge of the whole palace and Tai Lung had grown weary of them, and now he avoided them when he could, he found this easy enough. The three students only came on week days and only trained from noon till dusk, and as a result of being in the way, Tai Lung was always forced out into the courtyard to practice his skills so that Shifu could teach them at their own level, a level which was far below Tai Lung's own skill.

* * *

Two weeks passed and Tai Lung's dislike towards Tigress only grew. When Shifu was around he was almost always with her, almost as if he had forgotten his son. When Shifu wasn't around the cub was always left in his care. Once he tried to get rid of her by showing her to the other training students, hoping that they would look after her during the day, partially so that she would stay away from Shifu. This plan had unfortunately not worked, although all the students had said she was adorable innitially they had all soon complained that he and the cub were in the way of their training.

This did not mean that Tai Lung looked after her himself though, far from it actually. During the time when Shifu was not present Tai Lung often found that the cub would wander off by herself, exploring the hill top upon which the Jade Palace stood, he never tried to stop her either. Once he had seen her standing hesitantly at the top of the steps down to the valley, she was quite alone and shivering with cold but for the time being he couldn't have cared less.

On one such evening when Shifu was absent, and not expected back till the next morning since he had set off on a journey to the next town, Tai Lung had been sitting on the cliff beside the Sacred Peach Tree of Heavenly Wisdom trying to clear his mind. He had been feeling troubled and irritable as of recently, and he had hoped meditation would take his mind off things. But Tai Lung found it impossible to close his eyes, he simply didn't want to; it made him feel like he was blocking out reality.

He spotted movement beside the barracks and looked over. The lonely small figure of Tigress was passing through the doors to go to her room. Tai Lung was no longer the sole occupant of the barracks now, though he still had his own room it now felt like the place had been robbed from him.

He shook his thoughts out of his head and looked out towards the rapidly darkening horizon, the sun had already sunk. It was only now that Tai Lung realized he was _very _hungry but could not for the life of him be bothered to go back into the temple. Tai Lung looked up at the tree he leant against and realized his hunger was not too big a problem, after a day's work he felt that he deserved one of the sacred fruit but could not help feel like a thief as he looked around and listened for any approaching figures. The hill was Master Oogway's favourite meditation spot and he would probably not appreciate Tai Lung taking fruit from the tree, but at the minute he was no where in sight. Tai Lung believed that the Tortoise Master was with Master Shifu, it would make sense after all since he had not seen him all day, but then again Master Oogway was rarely ever seen, sometimes Tai Lung had found himself wondering where he went. Confident that Master Oogway wasn't in the area, Tai Lung stood up and delivered a quick punch to the trunk. Three peaches fell; he caught them all and decide to head back down the hill to the barracks, it was getting late afterall.

The moon emerged from behind a thick blanket of clouds overhead and dazzled down on all below, the light caused a bright reflection to occur across the surface of Koi Pond, catching Tai Lung's attention. He finished the first peach very quickly, he spat out the pit as he approached the pond and watched the ghost white fish below swim lazily through the black water. The smooth earth brown tiles surrounding the pond were covered in water for some reason or another, making them treacherously slippery, Tai Lung was wise enough not to attempt venturing out onto them. He stood watching the fish for a while, thinking. He finished his second peach and sat down in the soft grass just beyond the tiles.

His tiredness returned and he began to find himself falling asleep, shaking his head and blinking every so often to bring himself back. He finished the third peach and considered throwing the pit in the pond, tired mind thinking that maybe the fish would eat it. The night was warm and the grass dry, Tai Lung rolled over onto his back so that he could looked up into the sky and at the stars, but it was not long before he closed his eyes. It wouldn't make any difference if he fell asleep here rather than in his dormitory, he would still hear morning gong...

* * *

Sometime later Tai Lung jolted awake to find someone he did not recognise very close to his face, tugging at his shoulder. Out of natural instinct Tai Lung yelled and shot up, unfortunately this ended badly. The culprit was Tigress, she had appeared to have been trying to wake him up, too late though. The little cub screamed out her own fright, took two steps back, right onto the lethal tiles, and disappeared with a splash.

* * *

_Back to the present…_

Much like then Tai Lung once again found himself lying on the ground, unsure of where he was but this time it was light, just, and there was no young tiger cub trying to wake him up. Tai Lung was confused, but he knew what had happened and wondered for a minute whether or not he was dead. Finding that he could still see he experimented moving an arm, his fingers twitched and his forearm moved slightly. He was tired though, and ached all over, and all in all it wasn't really that surprising, not after what he had been through.

Several minutes passed and he found the strength to roll onto his front, he stayed like that for a little while more, then heaved and used what little current strength he had to push himself up. Every move he had made was painful, but not terribly. Tai Lung looked around himself, he no longer appeared to be in the town, he was in a glade, dark trees stretched out towards the orange sky, the night would not be setting in for several hours more but the evening was already here.

He listened and looked around for a source of how he had gotten there; he immediately spotted the abnormal shape of a cloth sack sitting nearby. He pushed himself towards it until he was close enough to pull it back to him. He took no precautions; he turned the sack upside down to allow its contents to fall to the ground. A full set of clothes, a loaf of bread, a skin of water and a small leather purse that clinked fell. Tai Lung looked around again, but there was no sign that anyone had ever been there apart from himself in the past hour.

He pulled the string on the leather purse and emptied its contents as well. Money jangled to the ground, a piece of greyed paper was crushed amongst them. Tai Lung put the money back in the little sack and peered at the paper:

'_If you are wise, you will leave.'_

Not very descriptive, had the panda dragged him out here? Highly unlikely, he doubted the panda had the upper body strength to manage it, but then who had? Who would have cared less if he had died out here today? Tai Lung stuffed everything back into the cloth sack and stood up. He stumbled for a second, readjusting himself to the use of his legs and after a moment of hesitation he took the sack, carrying it over one shoulder and began to head towards where the trees were lighter and sparser.

He was surprised when he emerged from the forest and found that he was still in the Valley of Peace, he was just outside it in fact, he could see the first building just some hundred meters away. Tai Lung suddenly felt a great foreboding, this mingled with his confusion and pain, creating panic.

He knew he could not return, why would he want to return anyway? There was nothing left for him, there was nothing for him anywhere. He had devoted his whole life to being the Dragon Warrior, and now that was gone as well, he had nothing left. It made him so angry, so sad, so FURIOUS! How could Shifu not have seen that he had been telling him all along that being the Dragon Warrior was the only option. Kung Fu Masters were supposed to be guardians, protectors! And Tai Lung was a Kung Fu Master, but he was no guardian and no protector thus he was nothing.

Tired and in pain he turned his back on the town and began to head out, like the message had told him. But after ten paces he halted and glanced back, angry. There was no way he was just going to leave again, this was where he had grown up, it was not compulsory that he left, just logical. Someone here still cared for him, possibly, and with nothing left Tai Lung would have almost killed just to find out who it was. Maybe Shifu had forgiven him, that was the most likely explanation. But had Tai Lung forgiven him in return? An idea suddenly hit him, and it seemed likeable.


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer: **I don't own anything. Kung Fu Panda (c) to DreamWorks and whoever-else-made-it

**Author's Note:** Thanks all those who reviewed and favourited! :)

This chapter was done in a hurry so please excuse any mistakes. Constructive critisism is appreciated.

**Chapter 2  
**

**We'd Think  
**

_21 years before…_

Tai Lung had shot up to his feet immediately, running over to the ponds edge in matter of milliseconds, regardless of the slippery tiles and his own safety. He scanned the pond's black surface for a sign of where the cub was, but it was almost as if nothing had ever happened, there was no sign of her anywhere. The fish had disappeared, scared by the splash, the water was rippling, it had happened. Tai Lung plunged headfirst into the black water.

The cold hit him like a brick wall but all he could think of was saving the cub who had all but completely disappeared from sight. The pond was deep, it was part of the design, but Tai Lung knew how to swim and with all his training quickly reach the slime covered floor. He groped around trying to find the tiger, he could see nothing, not even the surface of the pond and he began to wonder whether he was touching the floor, it could just as easily be a wall, with no sense of up he had no idea where he was.

His paw brushed over something cold and slippery, a fish quickly beat away from him. He would have to go up soon, he was running out of oxygen, but as soon as that thought had occurred to him he found her. He swam up quickly, at least he hoped it was up, but when the surface broke he barely even noticed, too preoccupied with scrambling out of the icy cold water.

He looked down at the tiny bundle of fur he had fished out of the water, she wasn't moving, even breathing. Tai Lung began to panic, he may have been an expert in the field of Kung Fu but medical treatment was completely beyond him. So he did the only logical thing that could come to his mind, he held Tigress upside down.

She choked and spat out water, but then returned to being limp, but at least she was breathing. Tai Lung quickly turned her back around and began to run towards Jade Palace, if he was lucky Shifu would still be there, otherwise he wouldn't know where to search. Thankfully he had barely taken a step when his father appeared before him, having heard the commotion.

"Father! She fell in the pond! She wasn't breathing!" he said hurriedly. Shifu leapt up onto his shoulder and felt for Tigress's pulse.

"When did this happen?!" he asked.

"Just now! She slipped on the tiles and fell in!"

"We must get her to the village immediately!"

_

* * *

Back to present…_

"Noodles up!" Tigress heard Po shout from the kitchen, she frowned and looked around at the others. Of course _they _didn't mind, maybe they hadn't even noticed, that Shifu hadn't been around all day. It wasn't that they didn't care, they all cared deeply, it was just something that generally went unnoticed; that and the fact that they all had Po's Noodle Special on the brain.

The panda lumbered in, once again showing amazing agility as he balanced six bowls on both arms. He swung them out onto the table, a bowl of noodle soup reached all of them without spilling a drop, except for Tigress, instead of a soup she recieved a bowl of rice. She looked over at Po, she had been looking forward to trying the soup which everyone had claimed was so good so why had she recieved a bowl of soggy rice?!

"That's specially for you Tigress, so you don't feel left out."

_What was that supposed to mean? Hmpth. Maybe he thinks I don't eat noodles after the first time I refused to eat._

She shook it off though and began to eat, they all ate in silence; even Po surprisingly.

"Has anyone seen Master Shifu today?" asked Viper presently, "It's just that I haven't seen him since before Tai Lung was defeated."

"Me!"

Everyone turned to look at Po, who shrugged and in an absent minded way waved one arm in the direction he presumed Shifu was.

"Yeah, he's been meditating on that hill, next to that Peach Tree Of Sacred Wisdom Things...He's been there almost all day actually."

Once they had all finished eating Po ambled away to wash up the dishes with the help of Crane, meanwhle Monkey decided to just lie around the kitchen and talk to the others who then also chose to all stay, except Tigress who went outside to find Master Shifu. He indeed was on the hilltop, sitting down with his legs crossed. He had his eyes closed but he was obviously not at peace, his ears twitched like crazy as she began to approach, before eventually they rested back against his skull in his obvious distress and he sighed. She stood attentively beside him, waiting for him to speak first since this was obviously the most polite way to go about things when he was deliberately ignoring her.

"What is it Master Tigress?" he asked eventually, turning his head so that he faced her.

"Master Shifu, I, nor anyone else, could help but notice your absence. Is everything…alright?"

Shifu was silent, for a long time…almost Oogway long. Tigress almost considered heading back in, it seemed to her that the red panda wasn't ever going to bother responding.

"Yes Tigress, everything is fine. I just need some time…to find peace." he replied, and returned to his meditative pose, closing his eyes and, effectively himself, to the world.

Tigress took the hint and began to head back to the barracks, she knew what was troubling Shifu: Tai Lung. It was strange that even in death he could cause suffering.

"Hi Tigress!" shouted Po obnoxiously from the doorway, unaware of the inner turmoil some others may have been going through. "Did you find Shifu?"

She nodded and silently pushed her way past, into the hall.

"Is he okay? Ya know, I mean, he's not just got this on his agenda or something, meditating all day on some special occasion."

Tigress stopped and turned around to face Po. This really was getting too far, was Po really that stupid? It was Po's fault really, it had been he who had defeated Tai Lung, though who on Earth knew how. But no, the suffering had been there much longer, ever since Tai Lung had lost his temper and flown through like a storm fed flood, destroying everything in his path, Tigress could still remember the day it happened. She brought her head quickly out of the past as Po began to grow bored, and it occurred to her that the kitchen was a lot quieter than it had been when she had first came in, the others were listening in.

"_Master _Shifu is not alright, he is troubled, you should know why. He says he's trying to find inner peace, he has been trying all day."

"Inner peace? He told me yesterday he had peace, all the peace he needed I think."

"Then obviously you should pay more attention."

* * *

Tai Lung awoke with the sun, the previous night he had managed to pull himself up a tree to rest off of the ground. Once again he suffered the fear of the unknown as he wondered where he was and almost fell four meters in the process. He had eaten most of bread provided the day before, but having not eaten for so long had made him feel nauseous and he had had to stop.

He was careful as he climbed down, still aware of his own discomfort at moving, but as he slipped and decided to jump the last meter down he received a nasty shock. Imbedded in the tree was an axe, which most certainly had not been there the day before, surely the sound of something like that would have awoken him?

As he pondered on the idea he noticed that more provisions had been left behind but underneath the blade of the axe was yet another message:

'_Get Out!'_

Whomever it was that had left him here certainly did not like the fact that he still was, but one thing was for certain, it certainly wasn't the panda. Tai Lung looked out towards the town again and wondered, he did have a plan, but it was so far fetched, so laughable that it would almost be considered the idea of child.

Tai Lung stretched and walked around the tree several times just to check he hadn't missed anything, also to check that he was still in shape enough to walk. He had been unsure of how his freedom would have effected him after all these years, he had once even speculated that he would die.

The technique he had used all those years paralyzed, barely able to breath, never moving, never eating, it was called the Tortoise Technique, invented by Master Oogway. This technique allowed one to stay still in a place for days, even months without any side effects, but that was just the problem, it was not meant to be used for years; everyone had expected just him to die in the first year, but he hadn't.

The day past and evening arrived.

Tai Lung decided it was now time to act. He gathered together what he had been left, he had already torn through the bread and consumed it all, he hoped it would give him the strength, he was worried of his body turning traitor and giving up on him without warning.

He already was wearing the supplied clothes, they gave him some guess as to who had given them but it was not much. Whoever it had been who had owned them in the past had been even taller than Tai Lung, and broader shouldered. Both the trousers and waistcoat were loose on him, both an unattractive brown and grey colour. But they didn't neccesarily belong to whoever had passed them down.

He practiced a few moves, leaping and balancing, then he began to move slowly towards the valley of peace as night descended.

* * *

_21 years before…_

Tai Lung looked up from where he ate, he was in the Training Hall; no food was really supposed to be here but he had talked it over with his father and they had both agreed upon that it saved valuable training time. But it was almost noon and Tai Lung knew he would have to leave the hall once the other students arrived. But the students arriving early had not been what had caught his attention, no the students normally arrived late after all, it was Tigress; she was on the other side of the room, watching him from with her arms crossed.

She had recovered fully since she had fallen into the Koi Pond around a week before, but she had not said a word to him since, this was the first time since then that she had even tried approaching him.

"What'd you want?" he asked her, hoping she would leave.

Tigress narrowed her eyes and puffed her cheeks up again like when she had first met him, and stuck her tongue out; she didn't leave. Tai Lung ate in silence, ignoring her, mostly. Tigress didn't go away.

"Have you already eaten?" he eventually asked her, she nodded her head. Tai Lung returned to his silence, what else was there to say? He didn't know what cubs talked about, he had forgotten, she probably talked about fur dyes and make-up, something Tai Lung knew nothing of. "So what's your name? You can't really be called Tigress right?"

The cub deflated her cheeks and looked at him critically. "I'm Lin."

"Well I'm Tai Lung."

Tigress looked away.

"Greetings Master Shifu." Tai Lung heard distantly, the first of the students had arrived. He got up and made to move, Tigress instantly ran over to him. He stopped and looked down at her grumpy little face, she was hardly any taller than his knee, it was almost laughable, she was probably even younger than he had guessed she was.

"What?" he asked.

She sniffed and looked away from him, murmuring something under her breath, it sounded suspiciously like 'thank you', then she hugged him.

* * *

_Back to present…_

As the sun began to rise in a pink tinted sky a panther strode into the village square, he wore loose brown and grey clothing, though he walked proudly he seemed nervous; keeping to the shadows when he could, completely avoiding eye contact. The panther seemed unsure of where he wanted to go but walked with purpose, and though he looked at no one directly he continuously scanned the faces of those who passed to check they were not who they might be.

Very few people were out at this time, up at the Jade Palace, no doubt, the gong had already rung and the Masters were up. But the panther wasn't at the Jade Palace and didn't intend to go up there, at least not yet. It was mostly merchants out at this time, the short peaceful folk of the valley, geese, rabbits and hogs.

So it was rather surprising when he spotted a fellow feline standing nearby, she was a tall skinny thing and was obviously very ruffled at the time being, shouting at a group of unhappy looking hogs, they were all standing beside a rather large cart which looked like it had been in some minor explosion, crates of all sizes having fallen out the back, some of them split and broken.

"What do you mean you can't get the crates to the store!? Didn't you think ahead when I said: I'll need help unloading the cart! And by that I meant all of you were suppose to do it for me! I paid good money for this! Not to mention half of this stock is probably damaged!"

The tallest of the three finally braved up and replied, but he didn't even reach her shoulder and she obviously couldn't have cared less for what he had to say.

"Madam, please excuse us but this was all just a big a misunderstanding. There was a landslide further back up the track and the alternate route was a lot rougher than the usual one. We come weekly, and never before have you asked of our assistance. "

"Exactly! I sent message this time that I wanted assistance when I ordered these goods! Ben Zou and Cheng left!"

"Well what about Raaeng? I seem to record that he has helped out in the past."

"Raaeng is fast asleep and would not be pleased if I broke into his house just to wake him up to help me with all these crates!"

"Well, what do you suggest we do?" the hog asked, beginning to get a little ticked off.

The panther had now passed them and was now heading away up the street.

"Hey you!" The panther span around quickly, nervous.

"Yeah you." It was the clouded leopard. "You look strong. You looking for work?"

The panther shrugged, unsure of where she was going.

"Good. You're hired, help me unload these boxes and get them back to my store. Once you've finished we'll discuss payment."

The clouded leopard turned around and shooed the hogs away mockingly, but they left quickly anyway. She motioned at the crates which had been dumped on the ground.

"Come on now." She said. "I haven't got all day."

And that was beginning of Tai Lung's new life.

* * *

A/N:_ I know it may sound stupid but the panther is Tai Lung. He's dyed his fur, I'll explain more in the next update!_

All these names are Chinese except for Raaeng which is Thai!

Lin - Gem

Xiu - Elegant

Raaeng - Strong

Ben Zou - Rush about

Cheng - Hasten


	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer: **I don't own anything. Kung Fu Panda (c) to DreamWorks and whoever-else-made-it

**Author's Note:** Thanks all those who reviewed and favourited! :) I'm sorry I'm a slow updater, and I can't promise I'll update any faster but the next chapter should come soon. I may decide to update upon a monthly basis but I'm still unsure about this. I'm focusing on another story at the minute, but as soon as I've finished it I'm going to come back, I will probably update again before I've finished with the other story but it won't be regular updates for a while more.

**Chapter 3  
**

**I work at a market**

He stared intently into the mirror in front of him, examining his reflection, admiring it. But Tai Lung was not being arrogant, the person who looked back at him looked nothing alike to who he had been the day before. Stolen black dye, he loved his fur and would on normal situations have completely thrown the idea clear of the sky and cleared his mind of even the slightest tinge that represented a memory of it. It hadn't only been his fur he had had to work on though, it had taken a stolen blade and some very careful maneuvering to cut off the excess fur that formed the mohawk like ridge down the back of his neck, along with anything else on his face that didn't make him appear bald.

As a result he had a much narrower looking face, he had also parted his whiskers so that they did not connect at the tips like they had before, and rounded his ears by removing the fur tufts off of them. He was renting a room off the some cheap hostel on the outskirts of the town, he wasn't expected to actually start working at the market until the next morning, he was still a little skeptical on the idea, and not that wise on the details either. The clouded leopardess had simply told him to turn up the next day and help out, she had mentioned metal work but he doubted this had anything to do with him. Tai Lung just hoped he wouldn't be recognized, ever again.

He had even introduced himself as Xin…how unoriginal.

The next morning he rose as early as he could, and left just as quickly. He wouldn't have admitted it but he was still feeling weak and didn't really want to do anything but sleep it off, but he ignored this, because in the new reality he had created around himself, nothing had never happened. Xiu was waiting for him at the same place as she had been before, except this time she was accompanied by a huge beast of a person who Tai Lung wasn't even sure of what species he belonged to. At first he had thought it was an oversized hog just with a longer and narrower face that usual, but closer inspection showed otherwise, Tai Lung stared, but the creature did not stare back, he was blind; a length of green silk wrapped around his head to hide his eyes completely, like in a game of blind-man's-buff.

"Morning Xin, this is Raaeng, he's a metal worker, you will be helping him today."

The Malayan Tapir, for that was what Raaeng was, said nothing; Tai Lung wondered if he was mute as well, or maybe just plain weird, why would somehow wrap cloth around their head anyway?

"Raaeng, I've already told you about Xin, I hope the two of you get along."

Tai Lung doubted it, already he could tell that this Raaeng was probably nothing but a stupid, thick headed oaf who would be incapable of holding a conversation that lasted longer that a few words.

"We will." There was underlined annoyance in the beast's voice.

* * *

Up at the temple the gong had not sounded, but out of habit most of the students were awake anyway, waiting and waiting for the sound to jump to their feet and greet Master Shifu. But there was no sound in or anywhere near the barracks except for a loud creaking coming from the hall, Po was trying to sneak out without waking anyone up, unfortunately even the deepest sleeper would have been awoken by his "stealth".

Shifu not sounding the gong was a cause for worry, especially after his behavior of the day before. Crane, being the most logical and well thinking of the students, got up first and went out into the hall to see what Po was up to.

"Well obviously Master Shifu has overslept, so why not wake him up?" stated Po, Crane was about to protest when Monkey came out and waved a hand at him, telling him to stay silent.

"It will be amusing." He stated. "Besides, it's Po who'll be in trouble, we're just innocent observers."

Tigress and Viper soon joined, interested to see what the results would be. The loud creaking that emitted from wherever Po placed his feet made them wonder why the floor hadn't caved in already, but squeaky floorboards were the least of their worries now. Shifu had his own room at the very end of the student dormitories, he never in it except when he was sleeping. It was a delicate sliding paper door, Po didn't treat it as such though as he pushed hurriedly to one side and leapt in with a grin.

"Rise and shine, Master Shi-" Po stopped when he realized no one was there.

The others hurried over at the silence and looked in upon the room, there was no sign Shifu had ever returned the night before. The bed was completely untouched, the blinds had not even been drawn open.

* * *

_20 years previously..._

The evening was getting colder, the sun had not yet set but it would soon, Tigress was sitting at the top of the thousand step stairs, looking down towards the town. Despite the low temperature, she was content, there was something strangely comforting about sitting on a hilltop so high above the rest of the world, it made her feel powerful, she owned everything as far as she could see. And things were going well for her, recently, since she had moved there, young pupils her age had began to appear to learn the art of Kung Fu, she had already made several good friends, none of them seemed to care she was a tiger rather than a rabbit or a goose, most of them weren't said typical animals themselves. Shifu was a wise father, always with some thoughtful word to put forward when she felt sad, but she wasn't anymore, she was living the dream; what more could she wish for than this?

She didn't mind Tai Lung too much anymore either, though at first the two had hated each other for unsaid reasons, such as childish jealousy over Shifu. But eventually he had shown different colors and had become friendlier, helping her with her training when Shifu was absent and even reading stories aloud to her when she was bored, out of an old childhood book he had kept out of memory; Shifu had apparently read to Tai Lung when he had been little, but probably out of awkwardness, he had not done the same with Tigress. Talking about Tai Lung, he was getting the world famous Dragon Scroll today, right this moment! To know Tai Lung was to know a celebrity, or would be, once he became the Dragon Warrior, she had already told this to several of the new recruits training with her, it had impressed a lot of them.

The door to the Jade Palace opened and Tigress looked back to see who it was, smiling when she spotted Tai Lung, but something was wrong, his head was hung low and was moving carelessly, like the world no longer had anything to offer him. She called out a greeting as he approached, causing him to stop and look up, his eyes were sad but he forced a smile.

"Tigress, shouldn't you be back at the barracks with the other children, it's getting cold out here."

Since the other students had began training here most had decided to take residence in the barracks, only going home on weekends. Tigress shook her head stood up, still smiling.

"Shouldn't you be?" she asked cheekily.

Tai Lung gave her another half smile and shook his head as well.

"Don't need to be, I'm the Dragon Warrior, I can stay up as late as I want to."

Tigress scowled.

"Yeah, but you don't need act so depressed. What's the matter? If I was the Dragon Warrior I would be really happy."

Tai Lung tried to smile again but this time he failed, he walked past her and with his back to her he began to head down the steps towards the town. Tigress suddenly felt worried, Tai Lung was never normally like this, was he planning on leaving? Was he leaving? Maybe with his new powers and the scroll he no longer needed to stay with them and he would leave forever. She quickly stood up.

"Tai, you're coming back aren't you?" She shouted after him frantically.

Tai Lung immediately stopped in his tracks and but he didn't look back. But he replied, but so quietly she almost missed it:

"Yes Tigress, I will be coming back."

And then he was on his way.

Tigress watched him until he was out of sight, then she turned around and headed back over to the barracks humming a tune to herself. And when she got there she told the others of how her 'brother' was now the legend itself, and everyone was awed, even those who hadn't cared before. So they all waited, waiting for the legend to reappear, read a story to all of them for Tigress had invited them all to share her room for the night to listen as well. But Tai Lung did not come back.

Tigress eventually excused herself from the barracks to find Tai Lung. She went out into the courtyard and waited there a while, but Tai Lung did not come back. So she went to the Jade Palace in case Tai Lung came gone there first, into the Sacred Hall of Heroes, here she found Master Oogway, but Tai Lung had not come back. She saw a golden glint out of the corner of her eye and gasped as she noticed the Dragon Scroll was still there, high up and out of reach, she thought this was weird because she was sure Tai Lung would have taken it with him.

"Master Tigress, what brings you here at this late hour?" he asked, at least Oogway wasn't acting any different than usual.

Tigress gave a little bow.

"Master Oogway, the Dragon Warrior Master Tai Lung hasn't returned yet and I was looking for him. Do you where he is?"

The Tortoise Master looked grave, he leaned against his staff for a moment, considering how to reply. Tigress knew how long this could last, so she simply thanked him and moved to leave, but he said something which did not answer her question but created more:

"Master Tai Lung is not the Dragon Warrior."

And though he did return to the Jade Palace that night in one last ditch attempt to get revenge on those who had denied him his world, Tai Lung, as a person, did not come back.

* * *

He had been working here for a week now, and was getting used to the routine, though no one had asked he had already made up a past for himself, and so desperate was he to forget that he was even beginning to believe that the past he had made up for himself was true. The market place he worked at was actually a small collection of stalls settled around a large house, the people working here had banded together for quite some time now, all specializing in their own trades, Tai Lung helped with moving objects and carrying messages around, a helping hand; it was almost humiliating.

Almost as in the fact that strangely enough he felt different, and not in the bad way. It had been so long since he had done something ordinary like this, some damned twenty years in fact. Raaeng, as he was called, seemed just as stupid at Tai Lung predicted, doing nothing more than grunting out orders and sneering, though there was one thing that quite fascinated Tai Lung about the seemingly brainless lump: he could see.

Well literally he couldn't physically see, he was as blind as a bat apparently and even if he hadn't been the great piece of cloth he kept wrapped around his head would have prevented anyone from seeing. Yet Raaeng seemed to sense everyone around him, facing the right direction and speaking to the correct person when he was addressing them. He was also strong, able to pull along and carry massive boxes which must have weighed twice his weight. Tai Lung had briefly speculated that the tapir could have once been a Kung Fu student, but then remembered that tapirs weren't speculated to really have that good sense of sight anyway and the amazing "senses" were probably just natural.

He hadn't expected for much to happen. It had only been days but already he was begginning to grow used to the days of nothingness, he no longer believed in his previous life, but in a way this was only worse. He no longer felt the blinding anger which masked all the loss he had faced, but without the anger he was left empty. Tai Lung no longer felt he had a purpose. He was no one now, he had died twenty years before, on the day he had been told he wasn't the Dragon Warrior. He was already nothing but a corpse filled with memories on the day the "Dragon Warrior" had "killed" him.

Pah, the "Dragon Warrior"! It was all a lie, he knew that now, some sick twisted game! They had chosen the first person to ever approach Kung Fu without any training whatsoever, and at his age? Tai Lung had trained since he had first been able to walk, what the hell had been going through their minds when they had chosen him? Maybe Oogway had finally grown senile, after all, he had died only days after the decision had been made.

It was best to not think about it. And fortunately for him, Tai Lung didn't even need to try.

There was suddenly scream.

Raaeng, who had been lazing against a wall nearby, snorted, agitated, and stood up very suddenly, almost knocking over a nearby stall. Tai Lung had picked up on it as well, hurriedly dropping what he was doing and hurrying towards where the sound was coming from. There was more screaming now, Tai Lung came skidding to a halt as a he found his way blocked by a wall of people who had emerged onto the streets to see what was going on.

There, on the roof of a low building at the end of the street, leading out towards the town square, was the source of the trouble. There was ferocious looking buffalo standing upon one roof, he was armed and dangerous, and what was worse, he had a hostage. He wasn't alone either, a large group of thugs stood around nearby causing havoc.

"They've got the mayor!" someone screamed.

Tai Lung found himself frozen to the spot, unsure what to do. He knew that staying here risked the chances that the kung fu masters would show up, they were likely to recognise him, particularly one of them...This wasn't his fight, he shouldn't have cared, just let it play out as it was. But this wasn't what he had seen for so long, normally it was he causing the suffering, everything so fast pased that he was only aware of his goal, and now he could see everything at a normal time speed without a goal and it was different. A weird different that Tai Lung disliked.

He found himself half wishing that the kung fu masters would appear, just to get rid of the problem and wake him into leaving. He couldn't act, he couldn't bring attention to himself.

'BANG!'

The loudest sound he had ever heard at close range, sharp and crisp. Smoke furled and the buffalo toppled and fell off the roof. A horrid silence descended, no one quite knew what exactly had happened and took Tai Lung a while until realized that he was no longer needed to make a decision. The situation had already been dealt with by a most disturbing occurence, and as cheers went up for the saving of the mayor, Tai Lung could only look on in horror at what had happened to the buffalo.

* * *

Xin - New

Lin - Gem

Xiu - Elegant

Raaeng - Strong

Ben Zou - Rush about

Cheng - Hasten


	4. Chapter 4

**Disclaimer: **I don't own anything. Kung Fu Panda (c) to DreamWorks and whoever-else-made-it

**Author's Note:** I am having serious writers block right now for all my stories, but half the next chapter already done :)

Next chapter may come out on the 25th!

Thanx for all the alerts and faves :)

**Chapter 4  
**

**An Outrage**

There was a frantic search of the Jade Palace grounds, but no sign could be found of Shifu.

"This is not like Shifu at all." Said Tigress. "He has never gone away like this before without forewarning us." _Without forewarning me..._

"Maybe he's just gone off to get some air, you know, chill out. He did sound a bit stressed from what you said last time." said Po, trying to be helpful.

"Tai Lung may have been a monster but you forget he was also once Shifu's son, of course he is upset!" Tigress replied heatedly, ears lying flat against her head.

She wasn't quite sure why she was so upset; normally she was much more capable of keeping herself in check, she hadn't felt this uneasy since the incident 20 years before. And it all seemed to be coming back, repeating itself...Shifu becoming cold and distant once more as a result of Tai Lung...Tai Lung gone once more, never to return...Oh how she hated his memory!

"Crane, check if you can see Shifu from a greater height." she commanded, adverting her eyes from Po; Crane took off immediately. "Viper and Mantis, continue your search of the Jade Palace, Monkey go ask around the village whether anyone has seen Shifu or not, and Po...you can go with Monkey. I'm going to stay here and wait for Crane to return."

"But Tigress, I only just woke up and haven't even had breakfast yet. Is there a small possibility that I don't have to go all the way to the village? That's a lot of steps on an empty stomach." Po complained, though it was said rather meekly; he was a little afraid of upsetting Tigress and it was obvious.

Unfortunately for Po, Tigress was feeling more than annoyed and would have replied angrily once more, but before she could say anything Crane returned, flapping his wings frantically.

"I found him! He's just coming down the mountain, I think he may have been at the Sacred Pool of Tears."

Suddenly there was a loud crack, it was in the far distance but they all heard it. The sound came from the village, it was nothing like they had ever heard before, the closest thing they could compare it to was the cracking of stone against stone magnified tenfold. Shifu was by them in seconds, suddenly seemingly appearing from nowhere, his eyes wide and his gaze focused on the village below; anxiety clear on his face. Before any of the could even think of asking him any questions he had already given out orders.

"Tigress, Crane, you two are the swiftest, take the lead! Everyone else, follow me!" And without hesitating, they obeyed, all except Po, who whined once in a childish manner before hurrying after everyone else.

* * *

Tai Lung had gathered his senses together rather quickly and realized the seriousness of the situation. Everything was under control now, but he was still in potential danger, he didn't know how recogniseable he could be but he knew the guardians of the valley would be here soon, the furious five and the dragon warrior, maybe even Master Shifu; and there was no doubt that they would recognise him in an instant.

A wolf was standing up on the roof now, the mayor standing proudly beside him as the wolf talked about the unexplainable horror before him as if it was a positive, for the greater good and for some reason everyone was believing him! All Tai Lung could see though was the blood stained ground and the look of horror that had crossed the buffalo's face the moment it had known what was going to happen.

Subconciously, he glared fiercely at the wolf while his mind was elsewhere. It was impossible to say whether he was noticed, the crowd was huge but the canine did promptly seem to look back, though it seemed more like a glance. Tai Lung promptly fled the scene, just as Crane flew over head with Tigress bounding over the roofs towards the scene; unknowing of the supposingly dead snow leopard going the opposite direction below them.

* * *

Quiang was confused, Jie had always been kind and understanding in the past, so why was Wei dead now? The act had been completely planned, set up and staged, but Wei's death had not been.

It was the evening now, several hours after Jie's speech to the valley, and Quiang was currently sitting at a small round table playing a game of mahjong with three others. Quiang was currently losing, but this didn't come as a surprise as he had never really understood the rules of the game in the first place. Jie wasn't playing, he had left on some sort of errand a while back and they hadn't seen him since.

Everyone was rather silent, the death of Wei had come as a surprise for almost all of them, and for those it hadn't knew better than to say anything. Quiang was not the smartest of people, and normally he questioned nothing that his boss told him and their gang, but this was different and he was confused. Wei had been a friend of Quiang's, and this only made his doubt intensify. Someone murmured "majong" faintly as they recieved another hand and whole lot of points, and finally the silence was broken by more than lifeless whispers as Quiang finally spoke.

"Why was Wei killed?"

Everyone stopped in the middle of their game and looked at Quiang like he had grown a second head.

"You questioning the boss's motives?" asked a bear gruffly, Meng, who also currently losing the game of majong; he sounded defensive, itching for a fight.

"And he has every right to."

Sometime before, without any of them noticing, Jie had joined them and was standing just a few feet away.

"We all know Wei was a liability, he was becoming dangerous to have around . Do you not remember, comrades, that only last week he was talking of leaving? That he thought what we were doing was _wrong_?" The wolf pulled up a chair for himself and joined them at the table. "Do not think that he did not know what he was getting into, he already knew what was going to happen. Wei died with honour, for what he believed in so that _you_ could have a better future ahead of you." The wolf glanced up at Quiang, who was about twice his height even sitting down. The large crocodilian looked away, head down, feeling almost ashamed at his questioning; of course Jie had told Wei, Jie always knew the best for all of them; how had he dared questioned Wei's honour and Jie's judgement?

"Did anyone else notice that panther in the square?" said Meng, speaking up again. "I had a right mind to get down and smash his face in, the way he was scowling at us, he was asking for trouble."

"I'm pretty sure we all noticed him, it would be pretty hard not to, he stuck out from the crowd from a mile off. You would have to be both blind and stupid to not notice him." stated Jie bluntly, though it was said in such a smooth voice that the bear did not pick up the thinly veiled insult.

"Do you think he will be trouble?" the bear said, with just a little too much enthusiasm. Jie seemed to consider this option for a moment, but in reality he already knew his own answer; but being pensive had its positives.

"He could be trouble, but he might also be useful. Quite a strong looking fellow, don't you think? He might be interested in employment if asked, but if he does cause trouble then we'll simply get rid of him. But I think our major problem is going to be the kung fu master Shifu. From what I've heard of him I would guess he would not be very tolerant to our line of work nor appreciate the undeniable modern outlooks on life that are present now. Master Shifu is the type of person who likes to cling to ways of old, a dying breed, kung fu masters as protectors are very rare these days. No need to worry about Master Oogway though, I heard he died quite recently. I have worries about the Furious Five as well, their minds have probably been tainted by Shifu, they could also be a problem. But let's just face problems when they face up, no need to go charging in unprepared like a drunken buffalo."

There was a round of laughter at the inside joke which Quiang found himself unable to participate in. He thoughts had wandered back to Wei and the panther, and in some far corner of his mind he knew that the if panther joined them then he would simply take for Wei place; like Wei had never existed.

* * *

"This is an outrage!"

Po winced at Shifu's outburst, even though it was not aimed at him. Po had never seen Shifu this worked up in...forever! Similar lines were floating around in the other students' minds.

"This was murder, pure and simple! And how could it even to occur to them that such a thing as these muppets could possibly bring peace to our valley?"

"Actually Master Shifu, I think they're called muskets." The glare that Shifu immediately sent Po was so fierce that it even seemed to carry its own power making Po stumble back several feet.

"What happened today was an anomaly, there hasn't been any crime in this village since Tai Lung..." Shifu's sentence drifted off into nothing and his ears went down and his expression turned troubled. "But even if such an anomaly were to occur again we are the valley's defense, we are the guardians, and we have never needed to deal out death like this!"

Tigress took her leave now, she didn't bother using an excuse, she didn't need one, and with current situation people were unlikely to notice. She walked aimlessly, just so she could think and free the thoughts that were plaguing her mind. She already knew where she wanted to go.

Soon she could hear the slow rumble of the river as she approached. She reached its edge and stared into the murky depths, but upon seeing her own anxious expression staring back at her she drew back and turned to walking along the edge of the deep slow moving river, a river that flowed right through the valley.

The river had always been a source of great peace to Tigress, ever since she had found out about it as a cub, a never changing landscape mark that had never flooded nor dried out, always slow, always there, never changing. The villagers often came here with buckets to take water yet the river never went any lower. Out here beside the river everything was calm, the deep waters rolled past slowly without ceasing, the ancient trees rustled softly in the wind and there was no anxiety. Tigress rested her back against one of the trees and nestled down into its overgrown roots, meditated under its cooling shade. She was alone, for now.

Presently the bell like voices of young children came with the breeze, Tigress opened one eye slightly and spotted a small group of very young rabbits pushing oversized handcrafted boat into the water. While it was still half way up the bank, and secure from floating away, the largest of the younglings climbed up onto the boat took the oars in its tiny paws, only to find that it couldn't reach the water.

Tigress closed her eyes again at this point and went back to her realm of calm. She breathed in deeply and exhaled, all worries were currently far away and Tigress did not want to return to them.

There was the pitter-patter of little paws approaching her, Tigress opened her eyes again and looked at the trio of rabbits who had come over to her, the other two smaller cautious looking ones having stayed back at the boat.

The tallest of the little rabbits gave a little bow.

"Master Tigress, we would be truly grateful if you would assist us in crossing this mighty river." he said, trying to sound as mature as possible, but this was impossible with his still young and high pitched voice.

"We want to get across because our big brother works in the orange groves on the other side and we want to give him a surprise." said another of them.

Tigress blinked at them in surprise for a moment, she was not used to being asked such a peculiar task nor was she used to talking to children. She smiled warmly at them and nodded, getting up to follow after them. The little rabbits beamed and ran ahead excitably. Tigress eyed the boat cautiously, wondering whether it would be able to take all their weight combined and then she looked at the river.

Tigress was not scared of water, she didn't mind water whatsoever, unless she was in it. She had never learnt to swim, it seemed stupid but this was the way things had stayed since she was a young child when she had nearly drowned and had learned to fear any water that came higher than her waist.

The little rabbits were watching her expectantly, too late to turn back now. Tigress climbed up onto the little boat which rocked slightly as she sat down. The river was around twenty meters wide at least, but this was still a relatively short distance, Tigress knew as soon as she had gotten across then she would have nothing to worry about. One of the rabbits pushed them off and then quickly jumped onto the boat before it floated away. Tigress took the oars and began to paddle slowly so as not to upset the boat, there was very little resistance from the current which was fortunate. She dimly wondered where the parents of the little rabbits were, she could see two figures coming towards them from the village, but even from this distance she could tell they weren't rabbits.

They were around half way across the river when Tigress noticed the fish; the children noticed them too and grew extremely overexcited, pointing and laughing. She saw it moments before it happened, the children obviously didn't. Just as a particularly exotic looking fish passed underneath the young rabbits all were overcome by the urge to look over board at the same time. The little boat didn't even rock, it simply turned upside down and Tigress and the rabbits ended up in the water.

Tigress's fear immediately overcame her, she struck up so quickly in order to escape the water that she struck her head against at the side of the boat, making stars dance before her eyes. She saw the little rabbits frantically paddling upwards towards the upturned boat, shocked but not in danger, she on the other hand was rapidly sinking.

Tigress was out of oxygen, she was terrified as images of a similar occasion in her distant past came to her mind, but she still was aware enough to not breath in water; but along with the world this was rapidly fading into black.

The last thing Tigress saw as she floated down to her certain death was a dark shape rapidly coming down towards her, but for all she knew this was just the darkness of her vision spreading.

* * *

**A/N:** Annoying OCs are Annoying... but don't worry, Tai Lung and Tigress are still going to remain the main characters.

**Translations**

Quiang - Strength/Strong

Jie - Hero/Heroic

Wei - Big/Large/Great

Meng - Fierce/Ferocious


	5. Chapter 5

_**Author's Note:** _Here is the final part of this story I wrote before I stopped in late 2010, I do plan to continue this story now, but there will be some editing. Anywho, here is a little segment that I never published, hopefully it will you guys happy until I start posting the rewritten edition (working on it now!)

One of the main reasons I was unable to resume before was because I couldn't see how to fit the story with the second film now out, but I have had a wave of inspiration and now I know how to work around it without having to majorly alter the story (but won't be able to till this weekend most likely).

There will be some minor changes to the story once I get around to editing it, but I will be sure to point them out in the next update so you don't need to worry about reading the whole thing again.

* * *

**½ of Chapter 5…Read the Author's NOTE!**

This was Ceres whom Tai Lung was walking with.

Ceres was from the west, but she had grown up in China. When Tai Lung had first met Ceres he had thought she was male, but after a few embarrassing days of mislabelling this was corrected by Xiu the clouded leopard who had found the situation rather amusing.

This was not the first time they had talked, but this was the first time he had to be near the fox for any extensive period of time. To his annoyance Ceres was extremely talkative and seemed very interested in Tai Lung's past and present, questions which were rather difficult for him to answer as he knew anything he made up on the spot he would have to remember for further occasions.

Fortunately though he found that simply being cynical and quiet helped him avoid most of the more personal questions, what also helped was the fact that the fox seemed unable to dwell on one question for more than a few seconds and she would rapidly change the topic without even waiting for an answer to any questions she had posed.

Going down to the river was an almost daily duty, one that Tai Lung strangely found himself enjoying. He supposed it was because he liked routine, it was how he had grown up, and not having some sort of routine bothered him.

He had been the first to react when there had been a union of screams for the second time that day, this time from the river. Ceres had looked surprised at the screams but her reaction was to stand stock still, worry and fear written across her face.

Tai Lung had run to the river and immediately spotted an upturned boat with five young rabbits holding onto it for dear life. He had jumped into the water and grabbed hold of the stern, pulling the boat after him as he swam back to the bank. The rabbits had quickly scrambled up onto the shore, but before he could even think of returning to Ceres and carrying on the day as normal, Tai Lung realized that the rescued rabbits were pointing out towards the water frantically, and immediately he knew that one of them still hadn't come out. This all seemed strangely familiar to him, but he didn't want to search for the memories that linked up with this in his past.

He dove back into the water and swam down, he could see a sinking shape, bigger than a rabbit but…he didn't bother to check who it was as he began to run out of oxygen, grabbing hold of the figure and pulling them up after him and dragging them out onto the shore. Ceres had run over by now and was watching, offering him a hand to him as he climbed out, but Tai Lung ignored her, his attention now fixated on the one he had just rescued. No wonder the situation had all seemed so familiar.

Mandarin orange body with chocolate stripes, this was a tiger, and not any tiger but one he had briefly grown up with. Tigress. He still remembered her true name.

"Lin."

Tai Lung promptly fled.

…

"That wasn't very nice or thoughtful of you." said Ceres, when she returned, she had had to carry the water buckets Tai Lung had dropped when he had fled and had to carry them back by herself

Xiu was giving him her own glare of disapproval, but she was more annoyed by the fact that not enough water had been brought back, since Ceres had obviously been unable to carry as much water as she and Tai Lung would have done together if he hadn't fled. Their small chain of shops all worked correspondingly, they all shared a building for retiring to at the end of the day and for storing away their stalls during the night when they were of no use, so the lack of water affected everyone.

Raaeng was a blacksmith, he sculpted creations out of metal, normally armour which was exported but sometimes he made small delicate looking children's toys, normally figures representing well known people such as the Furious Five, which he also painted, a feat that seemed almost impossible with the fact that the tapir was apparently blind.

Ceres worked with jewellery, perfumes and make-up, Tai Lung noted early on that her collection included fur dyes; he knew this could prove vital information for later on.

Xiu was a seamstress and dressmaker, though she worked with all types of clothing.

Then there Tian, a rather stupid camel who specialized in carpentry.

There was also a trio of pig brothers, Feng, Bo and Cai who worked in the kitchens and provided them all with food and were paid in return out of the total sum of money they all brought in.

There were also several assistants that popped in and out during the day, Tai Lung was amongst them but unlike the others he stayed around almost 24/7 due to the fact that he didn't really have anywhere else to go. And none of the others were complaining, Tai Lung had proved himself to be very useful, despite being a little cold; no one minded his presence.

"Xin here pulled someone out of the river that looked suspiciously like Master Tigress." said Ceres to Xiu. "Then he seemed to freak out and ran away." Ceres grinned at Tai Lung now. "Shy, huh? You shouldn't have been, you would have probably been rewarded or something for saving her life."

Tai Lung shrugged and continued sorting out the bag of potatoes that the pigs had left in the kitchen since they were taking the evening off. He didn't really want to think about it, he still felt extremely uneasy and had to fight with every fibre in his body to prevent himself from crushing the vegetables he was sorting. Ceres 'tsked' and left the room, feeling slightly put out by Tai Lung's behaviour. Meanwhile Xiu grinned at him over the counter, looking highly amused, a sharp contrast to her normally stern behaviour.

"Are you one of those crazy kung fu fans?" she asked, smiling cheekily. "I guess saving one of the most powerful kung fu masters from death must come as quite a shocker but...well I suppose I would have probably done the same, or maybe not, I personally would have wanted to be acknowledged. It's funny really, to think that such a powerful person can so easily be overcome by just a little water, I would have thought that she would be able to swim at least."

Tai Lung stopped his sorting and looked over at Xiu.

"I think she may have hit her head on the boat...besides, it might not have even been Master Tigress, it could have been anyone."

"In case you haven't noticed there aren't actually that many felines in the Valley of Peace, and I have not seen one tigress except that Kung Fu Master. You've only been here a short while so I suppose I can't expect you to know this village top to bottom."

"Yes…I'm not from this region."

"Neither am I. None of us are. Well except the other assistants apart from yourself, most of them grew up here, heh."

…

Tigress woke up in what could only be called a daze, but upon making out a large black and white shape hovering above her she immediately leapt to her feet and boxed them violently away. Po, who happened to be the large black and white shape, stumbled backwards and fell over with an undignified squawk and narrowly missed crushing Monkey who was standing just behind him.

Tigress quickly noticed that the rest of the furious five, the Dragon Warrior, Master Shifu and about a dozen other spectators had gathered round. She immediately felt immensely embarrassed; she of all people had been knocked unconscious, and it was her own fault too, if she hadn't panicked she wouldn't have knocked her head, and now she looked like a clumsy fool.

"Tigress, thank goodness you're okay." said Viper slithering over to her, pulling up Po with her tail as she passed him. "We heard what happened, they say you nearly drowned." Viper then smirked. "Po wanted to try CPR but you were already breathing so we didn't let him try, mostly for his sake."

Tigress dropped her fighting stance, managing to get some of her composure back as she tried to look as together as she could, but she was still soggy from falling into the river and looked very inelegant.

"There was this big panther guy apparently, he saved the rabbits on their boat and then pulled you out of the water, but then he ran away like he was scared." Viper looked at her curiously. "I didn't know you couldn't swim."

Tigress, already feeling somewhat defenceless, promptly glared at the snake. It was childish, glaring was something she would normally only have done when she was little, but right now her mind was elsewhere, on memories she wished would fade.

…

"I don't like it, I don't like it at all." said Raaeng, normally one to say little as far as Tai Lung knew. "They had hand cannons from back where I lived before this, and they brought nothing but misery and pain."

They were all sitting around a low table, all except Raaeng who was busy making a racket with a hammer and thick sheet of metal in one corner of the room, he had just stopped briefly to talk but he still hadn't joined them at the table. Tai Lung was hanging around as usual, he preferred it here, even if he was sometimes scorned for being aloof and cynical, he also had a dark sense of humour which Ceres in particular did not like, but at the same time she was the most accepting of the lot.

"I agree that it was not ethical in any way but you must agree they dealt with that situation very quickly before anyone was killed." replied Xiu, who always seemed to like playing the devil's advocate.

"Someone was killed." rumbled Raaeng, putting down the hammer and finally coming over to join them at the table. "But because it was a criminal it doesn't count apparently..."

Tian took the conversation from there, Xiu chose to leave shortly afterwards, followed by Ceres who invited Tai Lung to tag along with them. Not having any reason not to and feeling as it would be a welcome break, Tai Lung didn't refuse.

They went to an inn, where they were serving drinks and snacks at the bar. Without explanation or reason Xiu had suddenly become rather peppy and was a lot more talkative than usual, fortunately for Tai Lung though, Ceres was the primary target. Eventually, sometime later, just as he was about to take his leave, some new arrivals came into the bar. Tai Lung stopped in his tracks when he realized who they were and decided to stick around, suddenly feeling the need to keep an eye of them.

They had arrived in a gang, obviously led by the wolf up front, the one who had been approving the death of the buffalo, though not the one to actually kill him. With him were several colossal hulks of creatures, they hardly blended in with the little inn, and suddenly it seemed the bar was much more dangerous as an uncomfortable sense unease began to fill the air.

Ceres, for once, noticed and stopped talking rather abruptly. Xiu, strangely enough, did not and carried on talking rather loudly

* * *

**A/N:** that was where I stopped writing in late 2010, but now that the summer holidays are nearly here I should be easily able to resume writing (no excuses for me now!). I haven't actually watched Kung Fu Panda for about 2 years now, really should see it again, would probably help a lot.

Editing I thinking about, but I would like to know other people's oppinions on include my overuse of OCs in this story, does anyone think I should cut back a bit? I personally think I should be focusing more on the cannon characters rather than ones made up for the sake of the story.


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